Shipping-crate.



G. W'. SHARP. SHIPPING CRATE.

APPLIGATION HLnnAPn. 29,1909.

936,259. Patented oct. 5, 1909.

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Patened Oct. 5, 1909.

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SHIPPING CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.29,1909.

WJTNESSES WI' D l ANDREW. B. GRAHAM C0. PNDI UNOGRAPKERS WASNNGTDK.

UNITEB STATES PATENT @FFE-(1E.

GEORGE W. SHARP, OF FRANCIS, OKLAHOMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN A.SMITH, OF FRANCIS, OKLAHOMA.

SHIPPING-CRATE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W7. SHARP, a citizen of the United States,residing at Francis, in the county of Pontotoc and State of Oklahoma,-have invented certain new and useful improvements in Shipping- Crates;and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in shipping cratesand my object is to provide a crate which may be readily assembled forshipping purposes or knocked down and folded together for reshipping.

A further object is to so connect the parts of the crate together thatwhen in a knocked down posit-ion, they will occupy but a minimum amountof space.

A further object is to provide means for securely holding the parts intheir assembled positions and a still further object is to provide meansfor protecting the hinges employed for securing the parts of the cratetogether.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter referred 4to and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1is a perspective view of the crate in its assembled position. Fig. 2 isa vertical longitudinal sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a transversevertical sectional view thereof. F ig. 4 is a horizontal sectional viewthrough the crate. Fig. 5 is an edge elevation of the crate in itsknock-down or folded position, and, Fig. 6 is an end elevation of thecrate in its folded position.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 and 2 indicate theside walls of the crate and 3 and 4L, the end walls thereof, said sideand end walls being secured together by means of hinges 5 and byterminating the side walls co-incident to the inner faces of the endwalls, said side and end walls may be folded together.

Secured to the lower edge of the side wall 1 by means of hinges 6, is abottom wall 7 the meeting edges of the side wall 1 and the bottom 7being tapered, so that the bottom Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 29, 1909.

Patented Oct. 5, 1999.

Serial No. 492,893.

wall when closed will extend directly at right angles to the side walland the lower face of the bottom wall extend flush with the outer faceof the side wall to which it is secured.

Secured to the upper edge of the side wall 2 by means of hinges S is acover 9, the meeting edges of the cover and side wall 2 being tapered ina manner similar to the side wall and cover extending, respectively,below the side wall 2 and above the side wall 1, the ends of the bottomand cover terminating flush with the outer faces of the side walls.

The hinges 6 and S are seated in recesses 10 and 11, respectively,whereby said hinges will be protected against injury from coming incontact with other objects, while t-he hinges 5 are placed within thecrate and are seated in depressions to provide a smooth surface withinthe crate.

The free edge of the bottom wall 7 is held in its closed position byproviding hooks 12 on the bottom wall, which are adapted to be engagedwith eyes 1B on the side wall 2 and by forming depressions 14 in theside wall 2 in which the hooks and eyes are located, the interior of thecrate will be left free of any obstruction.

The cover 9 is held in its closed position by means of hasps 15, onesection of which is secured in a depression in the cover, while theopposite end thereof is adapted to engage a staple 1G located in adepression 17 in the side wall 1 and after the hasps are engaged withthe staple, any suitable form of lock may be employed for sealing thecrate. The cover 9 is also preferably provided with slots 18, throughwhich air may enter to ventilate the interior of the crate and the endwalls 3 and 4 are also preferably provided with slots 19 for Ventilatingpurposes and also to afford hand holds when transporting the crate.

The length of the end walls 3 and t is suoli as to bring the upper andlower ends of said end walls flush with the upper and lower faces,respectively, of the cover and bottom wall, so that said cover andbottoni wall will rest between the end walls when the crate is in itsassembled position, thereby securely holding the parts of the crateagainst twisting movement and rendering the crate substantially rigid.

When the parts of the crate are to be l. and bottom 7, the free edges ofthe bottom knocked down, the cover 9 is swung from over the crate andagainst the outer face of the side wall 2 and the bottom wall 7 swungupwardly and against the outer face of the side wall l when the sidewalls are to be moved in opposite directions, which will result inswinging the side and end walls into engagement with each other as bestshown in Figs. 5 and 6, thus disposing the parts of the crate in compactform for reshipping purposes.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a very cheap and durable formof crate and one that can be manufactured of wood or metal as preferredand it will further be seen that the crate will be perfectly rigid whenin its assembled position and can be quickly folded into compact formfor resltifpping purposes,

- What I claim is:

l. A device of the character described, comprising side walls and endwalls, hinges securing said side and end walls together', a bottom wallhinged to one of said side walls and adapted to extend below theopposite side wall, the meeting edges aof said bottom wall and sidewall; to which it is connected being tapered, and a cover hinged at theupper edge of the opposite side wall and adapted toy rest upon the otherside wall, said cover and the side wall to which it is secured havingtapered meeting edges and means to secure the free edges of the bottomwall and cover to their respective side walls, said tapered edges of oneof said side walls and said bottom wall being adapted to cause saidedges of said side wall and bottom wall to rest flush with each other,the tapered meeting edges of the top and the side wall to which it isconnected disposing the same at a point flush with each other.

2. A device of the character described, comprising a pair of side walls,a pair of end walls, the end walls being greater in heightthan said sidewalls, hinges on the interior of the side and end walls to hold saidside and end walls together, a bottom wall hinged to the lower edge ofone of the side walls and adapted to rest between the end walls whenclosed, a cover hinged to the other side wall, the 'meeting edges of thecover and side wall to which it is secured being tapered, said coverbeing arranged between said end walls and flush wit-h the upper' edgesof the latter, said end walls outstanding from the edges of the sidewalls and having their lower edges lush with the lower surface of thebottom wall.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE WV. SHARP.

l/Vitnesses Trios. MCKEEN, M. I). HENDERSON.

